[Review]—Harry Bosch is Back in Michael Connelly's "Desert Star"

I can't recall the last time I read a Michael Connelly thriller, but it's been a while. I only became interested in the author's writings again after seeing Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer series, and the first book I go for is Connelly's most recent release, Desert Star. And, no, it has nothing to do with The Lincoln Lawyer, albeit the character Mickey Haller does make a brief appearance. The book is the twenty-fourth installment in the Harry Bosch series and the fifth installment in the Renée Ballard series.

In Desert Star, newly reinstated LAPD detective Renée Ballard encourages ex-detective Harry Bosch to come out of retirement—again—and volunteer as an investigator for the new Open-Unsolved Unit. She would make sure Harry would be able to work on his "white whale"—the unsolved Gallagher family murders. Harry worked on the case in 2013 and had suspected Finbar McShane had murdered an entire family, but the suspect went missing, and the case went cold. 

A decades-old unresolved case involving the rape and murder of sixteen-year-old Sarah Pearlman, the sister of councilman Jake Pearlman and the primary sponsor of the volunteer squad, is the top priority for the Open-Unsolved Unit. Soon after reading the murder book, Bosch directs Sarah and the rest of her team toward the murderer while concentrating all of his efforts on finding McShane. 

Michael Connelly quickly introduces the storyline for Desert Star in the first few chapters. In the first chapter, Harry Bosch is coaxed out of retirement by Renée Ballard. By the second chapter, he is seated at his new desk at the Open-Unsolved Unit, working on the Pearlman cold case for a brief period before focusing all of his attention on finding McShane, who he believes killed the Gallagher family in 2013.

Desert Star is a straightforward police procedural that features two intriguing mysteries. Both of the mysteries are well-written and have a few unexpected turns that had me turning the pages. The way things turned out, I'm assuming Harry Bosch could be towards the end of his days; the character is 72 years old in this book, and—well, I don't want to give anything away, so read the book for yourself. Overall, I had a great time reading Desert Star; it's a well-crafted page-turner. ╌★★★★★